Month: March 2016

This is another memorial painting of two super cute dogs. Mac and Bo were loved dearly by their mom, and this was a surprise gift to her from her daughter. This was also another meshed painting brought to you by ***ART MAGIC***!

I’m starting to really like these. I still worry that I’m going to get the proportions off and make one dog look completely the wrong size. People seem to like them, though, especially when it’s an instance such as this one where both dogs are gone, and the owner just wants a picture of the two of them together for a sweet memory. That’s what it’s all about.

This painting was a special request from the author of the blog Hamster Patrol! . He, like I, is a big fan of orange tabbies, so I told him I would do a painting of one of his orange cats, Baters. You can go to his blog to see the reference photo that I used for this painting as well as many other adorable photos of his pumpkin colored kitties.

Hello, everyone! I haven’t posted in a few days, but I HAVE been painting! I had a group that just all happened to be surprises, so I have to post them all later.

Today’s painting completes a matching pair with a previous painting. The two cats look very fluffy, very pretty, and super serious. I love this in contrast with their very happy and friendly looking parents.

Here are the first 50 paintings all together. (I’ve actually done 52, but 2 of them are surprises for the people receiving them, so I’ll post them later.)

I just want to thank everyone who has supported me so far in this painting challenge. It is a joy to paint all of these wonderful people and pets. The background stories really do help me bring out their personalities, so keep ’em coming!
I’m so lucky to be part of such a large and supportive family, and it’s been great getting to know all of the people I’ve met through this project.

My Etsy shop will be up soon with detailed pricing info and tips on how to choose a good reference photo!
Stay tuned for more!

I wanted my 50th painting to be special, so I used a photo taken by my cousin Jenny of my grandfather as a reference.

Before he passed away several years ago, my grandfather adopted two small lap dogs and it was the sweetest thing to see how much he loved those two dogs. I never remembered my grandparents having a dog, even though there were several occasions when family brought a pet or two by for the day. I never really knew if my PaPa even liked dogs. He sure did like these two, though.

I think that sometimes pets come into our lives at the perfect moment, and that is what happened here. He needed their love, and they needed his, and they were brought together at the exact right moment in life.

My 8 year old son took a reference photo for me, and this was the end result. The cat I’m holding is Freddie Mercury. We found him as a stray kitten in a parking lot near my work. We had an eye infection, so we took him home and nursed him back to health. He always tries to get outside, and, if he succeeds, he will usually get stuck in a tree. We always joke that he is the worst feral cat ever. We have found that if you have a cat that likes to climb trees, but doesn’t know how to come down, it is definitely worth it to have a local tree trimming service that likes animals and a sheet to catch the falling kitty in when the tree trimmer tosses him down.

I’m feeling so much better today, that I did two paintings! I can’t post one of them because it was commissioned as a surprise gift for someone, but I was on Instagram earlier and saw the photo reference for this small painting on @itspuppylicious. If you love looking at pictures of adorable animals all day long and possibly neglecting all of the “important” things in life like cooking, cleaning, and bathing, then I highly recommend visiting Instagram and searching #puppies. You won’t be disappointed.

This is the sad faced dog that I drew on an envelope tonight because I have bronchitis and don’t have a lot of energy for anything else. Sorry about the lack of paintings, but hopefully I’ll have a happy faced dog for you soon!

Tone is more important than color.

Today I wanted to do a study in value and tone, so I found a black and white image and added my own color. This was so much fun! I think I might have to do it more often.

One of the most important skills to have as a painter is the ability to match tones. Notice, I said tone, not color. Color is different. Two different colors can have the same tone, and this is important, because it means that you can paint the same painting in different color schemes and achieve a very realistic painting as long as the tones match.

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About Me

I am a nature interpreter and outdoor program planner and a self taught artist. I decided to join the paint a day movement to force myself to be creative and to take time every day to do what I love most. Please do not use any of images on this blog without my permission. I worked hard to create them.